The Chinese fund management company subsidiaries of BlackRock, KKR and Italy’s Azimut Group have garnered the licenses required to raise money from qualified investors on the mainland for investment overseas.
A Shanghai Municipal Office of Finance Service news release said BlackRock and An Zhong (AZ) Investment Management, a wholly owned subsidiary of Milan-based Azimut, are the latest global managers to obtain licenses under the qualified domestic limited partnership cross-border investment program launched in Shanghai in 2013.
A QDLP license allows foreign managers to raise funds, “with assigned quotas,” from local high-net-worth and institutional investors to invest offshore in traditional and alternative investments, including “overseas equity and bond funds, hedge funds and property,” according to the news release.
KKR’s local unit, meanwhile, registered with the Asset Management Association of China’s QDLP program on April 21.
The Shanghai Municipal news release quoted BlackRock saying the QDLP license will provide the New York-based money management giant with opportunities to “further introduce its overseas investment and risk management experience” to Chinese investors by providing them with diversified and differentiated products.
The release also said Hamilton Lane, JAFCO Asia and two local Beijing-based firms, CCB International and CDH Investments, have been licensed to access private markets on the mainland through the qualified foreign limited partner program first launched as a pilot program in Shanghai in 2011.
The QFLP scheme “offers a ‘fast track’ for pilot foreign-funded private equities to invest in China’s domestic enterprises,” from buying shares in unlisted companies or private equity and venture capital products, to participating in private placements by listed firms, according to the news release.
The news release said 86 international asset managers have enrolled in Shanghai’s QFLP pilot scheme so far, while 58 participants have garnered QDLP licenses.
Source: https://www.pionline.com/investing/blackrock-kkr-azimut-score-licenses-invest-china-funds-overseas